When I started working at Commonwealth Press there was a stack of old Gildan boxes in the very corner of the shop that seemed to be slowly growing as time progressed. As we quickly grew and that once “extra space” was slated to be our new receiving area the boxes needed moved. What a surprise it was when I tried to sling one of those boxes up over my shoulder, this friggin’ thing had to weigh nearly a hundred pounds! Upon cutting the box open I was not surprised to find it stacked full of old film positives that were in limbo, we didn’t want to throw them in the trash but had no idea where or how to recycle or repurpose them.

What you may not know is that every job at CWP requires multiple film positives to create the stencil to print your artwork. Early on as a business we would catalog these films in case the customer were to want to rerun the art at a later date. As time passed it became apparent that too much time, effort and resources were being used to preserve the integrity of these films for a very low number of reruns. At that point the decision was made to print new films for all but a small select number of jobs and dispose of the films after the jobs were completed.

Disposing of the films was a half-finished idea. Yeah, we were not going to ever reuse them or catalog them in expensive folders again, but what would we do with them? Throwing them in a landfill to sit for the next 500 years was out of the question. I hated even the idea of having our companies name emblazoned across a pile of plastic buried into the ground. We would recycle them!…..someday, when we get around to it.

As with many supplies in the Screen Printing Industry our film comes in bulk rolls with no instructions, no recycling stamp and not much for a label. So I got a hold of the manufacturer to find out what the films were constructed from, they told me it was Polyethylene terephthalate (PET, sometimes PETE) with a light coating to accept ink and it was easily recyclable. After talking with a few materials recyclers I found out that no one was going to pay us to take these boxes off our hands. So I turned to the Pittsburgh Public Works Recycling Division for answers. They were very helpful and said they would be more than happy to accept this material with our weekly recycling as long as it was labeled.

We made arrangements for them to accept the unlabeled materials after they were bagged and the bags were labeled with the# 1PETE symbol so the sorters would know the contents of the bags. Going forward we were going to have to label each of our films to avoid confusion at the sorting center. I approached our artist and asked him to incorporate the  #1PETE recycling symbol into our art template so every film we printed would be easily identifiable and could just be thrown into any recycling container and eventually made into future products.

We know that the films used in screen printing don’t account for the smallest fraction of a percent when it comes to polyethylene use. We’ll leave it to the beverage industry to do most of the spewing of this certain material all over the planet. We found a way to keep the poly we use from finding a direct path to the landfill and hope to pass this information along to as many print shops as possible.  It is not common knowledge as to what materials make up films and where and how to recycle them. We hope this changes that.

So here are the simple instructions:

1. Find a recycler. If they recycle plastic, they recycle #1PETE. It’s the most common and simple plastic to recycle.
2. Add a recycling symbol to your art template, or somewhere on all your films.
3. Dispose of it in the proper bin along with other plastic recyclables.

It’s very, very, very easy. DO IT!

THE PLAN:
we are amazed to announce that we have teamed with the gateway clipper fleet to offer one of the most pittsburgh / most original events to date for pittsburgh craft beer week  — the commonwealth press BEER BARGE.

on FRIDAY APRIL 26th we set sail on all 3 rivers, for 3 hours (boarding at 6pm and depart at 6:30 and return to land at 9:30) with 3 bands and more local craft beer than you have ever seen floating up and down multiple rivers….AND you will be able to sample all of it, enjoy live music, and see our beautiful city from the rivers perspective.our goal was to have a good time on the river w some bands, beer, and offer 300 tickets for like minded to hang out and party. we never really set out thinking anything we do is going to be a HUGE turnout – more just a fun thing to do that hopefully  you will think so to.

REALITY:
as soon as tickets went on sale, SO MANY PEOPLE hit the site that it sold out in 4 minutes, THEN CRASHED THE SERVER…when the server went down, the ticket system reset to zero…then the server came back up and BOOOM we sold out again. yeah, that happened. we sold out TWICE the amount for a single event. im sure you heard us freaking out from wherever you were. long story short we oversold the event by more than double. we instantly thought CRAP now we have to refund and totally bum out all those people….buuuuuuuuuut……

we try to avoid the negative and make it a positive. we dont ever want to let anyone down (especially when this was TOTALLY OUR FAULT) so we try to make this into more of  an opportunity to make it an even MORE radical event. so we meet up with the awesome folks at the clipper (hi denise!)  to see if we can get a bigger boat! then find out that we cant. we cant get a bigger boat. we cant get a smaller boat. we cant get any additional boat at all….BUT we can add ANOTHER SESSION. so thats what we are doing.

THE CWP BEER BARGE is now a 2 SESSION EVENT.

SO if you have a confirmation from PAYPAL that your payment was accepted, YOU HAVE A TICKET!
even if you didnt get it as an email. we will be getting those all resent asap! we just need to work out the details.

so on Friday April 26th
the first 300+ people will be on the original session still boarding at 6pm and running from 6:30 pm – 9:30 pm
the second 300+ people will be on the new 2nd session boarding at 10pm and running from 10:30 pm – 1:30 am

we will contact each one of you individually (via the paypal email you used to secure your ticket) to let you know what session youre in – we will also be resending all the tickets, just to make sure you got it.

when you get that email….if you are on the 2nd session and dont want to go at that time, please contact dan AT cwpress.com and we will refund your ticket for you.
please remember that your ticket cannot be resold so if you are looking to get out, let us know and we can help you.

otherwise, hang on. info coming. this just got even awesomer.

so me and dan rock start picking up glass, sweeping…and both take turns cursing the whole situation. i jokingly said that im going to auction off this brick. kept sweeping and thinking about it, then figured – yep, im going to auction off this brick. nothing formal, nothing fancy just post it on facebook and see what happens. we have the commonwealth press beer barge coming up (as part of pgh craft beer week) and tickets havent gone on sale yet. so to spice up the deal we thought we could wrap one of those tickets around it – toss in a bunch of our cwp shirts and whatnot – and see  if someone gives a crap.

within an hour we had bids. awesome bids…cookies, beer, legos, money. it was awesome to see people start to take part, share the status etc. our friends were sharing, new people were liking our page, bids grew and things really started to catch fire.

then one of our friends/customers  Eljays Used books contacted us and offered to add a $20 gift certificate to our initial rewards. thats one of those quick moments where a flash goes off and you realize people are actually seeing this.

from that point it really grew and started to take off.  Shortly after that Rock Bottom added a free sixth-barrel keg, Steel City Roller Derby offered a pair of passes to an upcoming bout, and Yinzburg BBQ  added a $25 gift card. things kinda went nuts from there with donations coming in from other local businesses and bids coming in from friends – all looking to help.

then the news came. SERIOUSLY – word had spread and 2 different news crews showed up.

im aware that i am, for the most part, socially inept  – so take that and add a camera…and well you get these (click to watch news videos from each):

the CBS story

the WPXI story

then the news paper….

the PGH post gazette

then it got picked up by the associated press and has spread nation wide. a friend of mine down in VA said he heard it mentioned on NPR “morning edition”. want proof? here it is on NPR.

it was totally overwhelming to see this all build over something that in the larger scheme is rather trivial. we honestly started out thinking this was a joke of sorts (dan rock even said to make sure we said “seriously” on the facebook post). we started out hoping that we could cover the cost of the ticket, then the window, then this surpassed what the window would even cost.

so we announced anything past that would go to local charity.
i think thats the thing that that really got me. it just kept coming. more from businesses, more bids.

so at the end of the day – LITERALLY the end of the day -  Derrick Brashear came thru with a bid of $1150

AND THEN he shows up to pay…and BRINGS US HOMEBREW. what kind of world is this?!?!

the final list of people and businesses that have contributed to this auction (with well over $2100 value) are as follows:
links are included – if you visit them, please let them know how you heard about them and how appreciated they are.
-$20 used book credit from Eljays Used Books
-Rock Bottom just added a free sixth-barrel keg
-a pair of passes to an upcoming Steel City Roller Derby
-yinzburgh bbq added a $25 giftcard
-1 mens or womans haircut gift certificate by me (Lee) at Nadia Salon, Inc
-Brewery Tour, Tasting, and Growler for two at east end brewing
-a Monster Haiku book from Josh
-a laser cut birch plywood lamp from Laser Lab studio
-a free pair of plugs from jess at PA Plugs
-4 DOZ pierogies from WALDOS Pierogies.
-$50 garbella gift certificate!
-2 lbs of whole bean coffee from delanies coffee
-10 items from The Travelling Pittsburgh Craft-O-Tron Machine
-2 tickets to Step Trek from The South Side Slopes Neighborhood Association
-FREE CLASS card for BLACK YOGA
-$25 gift certificate from URBAN OUTFITTERS
-2 lbs of coffee from Zeke’s Coffee
-$20 gift card from the 17th Street Cafe
-a prize package from Pittsburgh Opera
-$10 pizza hut gift card and a custom acrylic painting by jay griffin
-a pair of lower bowl Pens tickets to the game on 3/26 vs. Montreal.
-a free case of Turners Tea
-a shirt from neighbor teaze
-$50 gift certificate to Piper’s Pub
-12 pies from the pub chip shop
-$25 sapling press etsy gift card
-2 VIP passes from hundred acres manor
-a key to the South Side from the South Side Chamber of Commerce and one year membership to our organization
-4 tickets from stage AE to the SOLD OUT “A Day to Remember” show
-a Yinztagram add on for a week
-$20 gift cert to fukuda @FukudaPgh
-Static Nightclub 1ViP bottle service table including bottle of house champagne
-$50 in smokin joes bucks
-1 picnic chair from YaJagoff
-1 batman, a high five, and a 22oz PBR at Ruggers Pub from @minjock
- the “European Bundle” of translators from Jibbigo Translator
-1 hour free photography session from Katelyn Rose Photography
-1 piece of original pottery from Emily Goston Orsovay
-a pair of tickets to Comedy for a Cause show on Saturday at Cefalo’s AND a pair of weekend passes to next week’s Horror Realm convention from sandy stuhfire
-a free season which also includes a raffle entry to win a Flash pinball machine from Pittsburgh Pinball League will donate
-$250 gift certificate from BookSmarts Tax & Accounting
-a free car wash from Audio 1 . (412)931 1700
- a pair of ticket vouchers, good for any main season performance from City Theatre
-$50 gift certificate from OTB
- gift certificate from Krazy Dogz
- free shirt from Neighbor Teaze
-  complimentary bottle service for up to 6 people at Diesel from Ampd

plus
commonwealth press beer barge ticket
commonwealth press all our koozies
commonwealth press all our stickers
commonwealth press a bunch of shirts
commonwealth press hugs from cwp
commonwealth press A DAMN BRICK!

so after the window costs we decided to split the proceeds as donations between 2 local charities here in the south side. part will go to the brashear association and the other part to paar. both places are right here in the neighborhood, are forces for good, and deserve every penny and more.

we also decided to thank ALL OF YOU with a BRICK AUCTION HAPPY HOUR, hosted by us at our warehouse on MARCH 22nd from 5-7. you are all invited. come hang out, we will get some beer and food…maybe do some print demos so you can see what we do it. if you want to bring any canned goods, we can futher the good vibes and give some to the local food bank. all free. come hang for no reason except we all deserve it.

im overwhelmed. totally.
think about it – if this is the kind of support pittsburgh offers to such a small ordeal, i cant imagine the force this city could muster under larger circumstances.

i love you pittsburgh, all inclusively.

im fascinated by print. the entire process of any given method of printmaking has foundations that feed off of centuries of experimentation.

i can honestly say that my first “totally blown away moment” in absorbing the whole spectrum of print was at my first real print position (production artist for a book publishing company in virginia). one of my managers and mentor george dearing was explaining to me how and why CMYK works. if this is new, it might hurt your head (but in that good way). CMYK is a simple enough concept – 4 colors printed at different angles trick your eyes and mind into blending them into perceptually about 1o million colors. The screen grids are set at different angles, and the dots create a tiny rosette pattern – a type of optical illusion that appear to form a continuous-tone image.

theres light and eyeballs and rods and cones and all kinds of bio-science involved – if you want to read more about it, its pretty intense – heres the wikipedia entry

again, the main concept is that by using only 4 colors – cyan, magenta, yellow, and black – you can produce photographic quality color reproductions. in modern print shops this is done by outputting the image, separated by a computer in 4 channels and output at a certain amount of dots per inch and a certain angle…they intermingle, million of colors happen.

so – heres where this all gets experimenty – i want to draw this all by hand and see if it will still overlap properly and produce the same spectrum of color. i think it will work. it should work. i mean it could, technically. ok. lets do this.

IMAGE: my subject is the famous head shot of Yuri Gagarin (soviet cosmonaut and the first human in outerspace).

now start pulling the image apart – with a sharpie and aiming for a 45lpi linescreen. im using the following angles for each : C 15° – M 75° – Y 0° – K 45°

detail of dot:

then do it 4 times at different angles and densities:

the final print size im aiming for is roughly 18×18 – at 45 dots per inch, that uses a detail of 810 dots per every line you see here. on an 18 x 18 image there is roughly an area allotted for 656,100 dots total per image. (is that right?! good god someone please check my math). some areas are super dense, some are totally empty – the percentage of any given areas fill is based on the color separation. i spent 6 hours on each of the C,M, and Y channels and 4 on the black. all with no certainty that it was going to work…but it had to work, right?

ran the screens from these positives and planned to print the colors from light to dark – YMCK – and thinned the middle 2 colors to allow for overprint and transparency.

yellow. ok no big deal. lets do this 100 times:

let those dry, restack them and register the next color…here goes magenta:

registration was pretty solid considering the non computer generated loose dots. now lets do this another 100 times. let those dry, restack them and register the next color…here goes cyan:

starting to get decent skin tone and amazed that the rosette pattern is starting to show and hold. thats the litmus test that its working. the angles are correct, the colors are blending. holy shit, this is working. let those dry, restack them and register the next color…here goes the clincher and final color, black:

and there it is. every pull had slightly varied results – different squeegee pressure and all kinds of variables give every print just a bit of its  own character. ill be honest. im pretty stoked at the final result.

this print will be displayed at our GRANDer OPENING this sat (12.1.12). it will also be for sale as well. you are invited, heres more info.

and thank you for reading thru this. if you have any questions or want to talk process, add to it, or ANYTHING please comment. i definitely plan on doing more of these. im constantly reading and learning and refining the process. id love to hear from you.

now, if i lose these positives youll hear me flipping tables from across the river.
lovingly,
dan rugh

Today at Commonwealth Press is a day like every other. We started our day by realizing the parts that were ordered for our dryer (the thing that cures the ink on every single t-shirt we print) didn’t ship and won’t be here till tomorrow at the earliest. To catch you up to speed a bit on the dryer… yesterday towards the end of the day a fan in the control panel of the dryer died causing the wires to overheat, melt, blow some fuses, and melt the fuse box. “No big deal” says Corey, “BA tore it apart and is re-wiring it”.

Besides the dryer, also on the list today is meeting with Penn Brewery to discuss the recipe for Commonwealth Press Ale. A beer they will brew for us that will be available in stores in packaging we designed and will hand screen print. If you know us at all you know what an amazing dream come true making our own beer is for us.

Then there is the meeting with the owner of the warehouse space we rent. When we moved in, it had been empty for about 10 years or so. Since then we’ve demoed, cleaned, painted, and re-imagined pretty much every inch of the 10,000 or so square feet of the place. Now, we have to cross our fingers and hope all that work isn’t going to factor into a rent increase that we can’t afford and will force us out of the spot we’ve made our own.
Speaking of our warehouse, we’ve been sharing that space with Lisa and the girls of Sapling Press for a while now. Last year we had we a grand opening party (about a year late) and part of today’s schedule is planning the reprise of that party, the grandER opening, for 12.1.12. It will also be one of the last times you’ll be able to appreciate CWP and Sapling Press together in the same space. Sapling Press will be moving into their own store front and it is with heavy hearts that we watch them go. They’ve been great space-mates but they are growing and need a new space and we couldn’t be prouder or happier for them.

If you’ve been to our store front recently, you most likely met Marissa. She has been turning our former production / cobbled together retail space into an actual store front. The transformation has been incredible to watch and she is just getting started. We will actually have stock of our designs (crazy I know!) for your holiday shopping this year! In addition to purchases made in our store, we’ve redesigned our online store (www.compressmerch.com) and are going to be at Handmade Arcade again this year! We’ve also been printing benefit shirts for Dave Whaley and family to help with the medical bills they incurred recently after Dave was brutally attacked. All proceeds from the shirts will be giving to Dave and family, so if you’d like to support them you can pick up a shirt in our store.

Add to that printing t-shirts, doing web design, designing logos and helping brand other small businesses and all the other “day to day” stuff we do to keep the lights on and it’s just another day at Commonwealth Press. Ups and downs, but typically more ups, and thats your typical day here. Support small business. Support your local screen printers.

Hi everyone! My name is Andrea and I am the newest employee here at CommonWealth Press, and I’m a girl*! If you stop by the shop on E. Carson St. you may find me, barely visibly, behind a display table. I like it this way…sneak attack! I can not express enough how stoked I am to be a part of this family. The first time I heard about CommonWealth Press I was about 14 years old when my brother came here for his t-shirt printing needs. Cut to me ten years later working here and loving it.

This whole adventure came about when Dan Rugh hit me up on THE Facebook asking if I wanted to work on some shirts that were a little more unique than the typical Pittsburgh shirts they have in the store. After double checking that the message was in fact meant for me, I agreed. A few coffee meetings later, I am happy to say I created two awesome designs to be printed in the near future (so keep a look out!!!!). To my surprise, during one meeting The Dan’s offered me this part time position I am currently sitting at, right now, in real life. The rest is history, as they say. I assume “they” are very smart, and doing quite well for themselves.

If you were wondering who lovingly puts the orders together and trucks them to the post office so they get to you for your wearing pleasure, it’s me! Although, if you are ever dissatisfied with what you receive, Dan Rock did it.

You are reading the first of many posts I will be doing, so buckle up! I guarantee it will be a bumpy ride traveling on the copious amount of bunny trails I tend to go on, but we will all be on them together and that is the most important.

This is my photo inspiration..the best model I know.

*the reason CWP is now diversified.

we (CommonWealth Press and Sapling Press) are opening our doors for yet another print-your-own party.
this one is going to be set up so you can print your own valentines cards just in time for valentines day… WED FEB 8th from 6-9

you dont need ANY experience what so ever…we will be creating 8 screen print and 2 letter press stations – each with a different design – then cutting you loose to print your faces off. we are designing everything so they will not only work as a single print but will also over print in combinations to work together in an *infinite amount of variations – so if you want to print one station over top of the next over the next over the next – youll be creating your very own one-of-a-kind card for that special someone. then print another for that other special someone. and then another for that other other special someone. (damn, you really get around)

and if you dont have a special someone, we will have some designs for that too….and beer. that always helps.

so this is the official invite and announcement BUT we have VERY limited space so secure your spot now.

tickets are $30 each and include snacks, beverages (beer/pop), a killer playlist by DJ PRINTSBURGH and as many cards as you want to print (within reason and/or until our stock runs out).

you can reserve your spot right now – hit the ADD TO CART button below. space is (very) limited.

THANKS! hope to see you there -

*not really infinite – i just didnt feel like doing the math

12.09.11

Last night was amazing.

I know amazing is an overused word but I mean it sincerely. Our warehouse grand opening was something I had been dreaming of for over 10 years, no kidding.

Apologies for the nostalgia but I bought my first press because it fit my 8x8x6 basement. Then I spent the next 3 years down there, printing hunched over because the ceiling was shorter than I was. When my wife started it only eliminated space. 2 of us crawling over each other to print, or fold, or whatever…commonwealth press has always been a cramped but determined situation.

Since then we have turned every space we ever occupied into a printshop (whether it wanted to be one or not). First our basement, then a loft above the beer distributor, then the shop on carson, they all worked – but we sure as hell forced it.

Now into our current warehouse space – arms stretched out and up as far as we can stretch. I know that doesn’t sound like that big of a thing but its huge, literally. Trust me we aren’t taking it for granted. We know why this is all possible and I guess that’s why it was such a proud and humbling moment – looking at everyone that has supported us, that came to celebrate with us. These are all faces that have made this space and our very means of making a living possible.

So thank you. Thank you for coming to our event. Thank you for sharing your time with us. Thank you for giving a shit about supporting a small local business and being the reason for our growth. I’m honored to work with you.
Thank you. For everything.

I promise we wont let you down.

sincerely (and on behalf of shannon and all of commonwealth press),
dan rugh

Notes on our event:

The letterpress studio is Sapling Press – run by the very talented Lisa Krowinski. www.saplingpress.com
The food was catered by Pipers Pub www.piperspub.com here in the south side. I cannot recommend them enough, but I certainly will try.
We had Clover Bakery make our custom keystone shaped cookies:
cloverbakeryllc at gmail.com. Phone. 412-849-5593
The beer was all local and as follows:
Penn Brewery:     Penn Kaiser Pils,Penn Pilsner,Allegheny Pale Ale www.pennbrew.com
East End Brewing co: Fat Gary www.eastendbrewing.com
Full Pint: 1 Lager and 1 Amber,  www.fullpintbrewing.com
Flat Rock: Incline plane ale. www.flatrockbeer.com

Also, we have a limited amount of invitations left over. If you would like one as a keepsake – please let me know or just stop by.  They are 2 color screenprinted with 3 spot letterpress – and one color screened on the envelope. One of my favorite pieces to date.

its been pretty eventful around here. we get to work on some pretty rad stuff coming thru and going on in pittsburgh…and we are eternally grateful for the opportunities we have stumbled upon.
most recently we prototyped some artwork gabriel roth pulled together for mac miller’s new release and tour.

we ran it as a simulated process print using 8 colors on a super soft ringspun cotton black tshirt. the final result was a nice sharp and vibrant full color image – but super thin to keep it nice and comfortable when wearing.

keep your eyes open for this print – its available now via merch direct.
heres a detail of our final print…came out so detailed and crisp. amazing process and product.

now if only merch direct could make it look this sharp….but alas….

the aforementioned gabe also runs http://www.columbusurbanthreads.com/ check em out.

commonwealth press…printing awesome shit for awesome dudes since way back.

common wealth press is literally a mom and pop shop. my wife and i started it in the basement of our home…in the middle of our neighborhood, the lively and historic south side of pittsburgh. we own our home and have lived here for over 10 years. it is a mere 167 steps from our store that we rent from our landlord, the building has been in his family for generations. i am raising 2 little girls in this community as well. its a great and amazingly walkable neighborhood. i know my neighbors. i support the other store owners on my street on a daily (hourly) basis. sure it gets crazy on the weekends but  i can honestly say that this is the closest feeling of community i have ever had.

annnnd this arrived in the mail a few days ago (above).  it calls for a boycott of many of the businesses i support.  i guess a good many have been mailed thru the neighborhood. it sucked to see not only my company on there, but also other local independently owned businesses as well. in fact – theres not one chain store on the list. the boycott apparently stems from a majority support of a neighborhood improvement district (nid). the mailing was sent from a realty stats company – dan murrer 1911 east carson street (a few doors down from me). ive gone down a few different times to discuss where he was coming from with this. id like to hear his perspective but no one ever answers the door. ive talked to others on the list. a few aren’t even in favor of a nid but are on the list anyway.

thats the thing – i totally support the right to your own opinion. life would be pretty boring if we all thought exactly the same about everything. however boycotting small and family owned businesses for reasons that haven’t even been researched or thought out isnt only absurd – its dangerous. whats the end result? they all close and make way for some fast food? more bars?

i support the nid but even more i fully support any one that has taken the risk and fear involved with starting their own business. putting forward the effort to cut a foothold on your own and do something for yourself is something to be commended – to be celebrated – certainly not boycotted.

in answer to this boycott -  commonwealth press is offering $5 off of any retail purchase in our shop in exchange for this mailer.
if you didn’t get the mailer – we are also offering $5 off  any retail purchase in our shop with a sales receipt from any of the businesses on this list.

please support small business. buy local.

sincerely and proudly,
dan rugh
owner of commonwealth press

—————————————–

ive added some info  if you want some history on the neighborhood and why there is or isnt a need for the neighborhood improvement district. again, form your own opinon….just dont try to kill small businesses with ignorance of any kind.

heres a super condensed history lesson on the neighborhood:
the south side was hit pretty hard in the late 70s early 80s – the mills closed and the south side all but died.
enter the south side local development company (ssldc) – a 20 year plan to revitalize the entire neighborhood. under the ssldc the south side grew:
• 250+ new businesses
• 200+ storefronts renovated
• 700+ new homes constructed
• 12% vacancy rate in 2008, down from 40+% in 1982
this info and TONS more is available at http://www.southsidepgh.com/southsidelocaldevelopmentcompanyhistory

the ssldc did exactly what it was supposed to and the neighborhood blossomed…even won awards.
it was a 20 year plan and that 20 years was up this past october. the nid is the next step to continue the services the ssldc offered.

read about the nid here: http://www.ssimprovementdistrict.com/

its no secret i love pittsburgh. this show was one of those reasons why. its such a comfortably small city with tons of amazing shit going on at every turn. being included on something like this is such an honor and a fun as hell way to spend a night. 2 miles from my house, backstage, drinking beers on the side stage watching joe and bruce kill it in front of a small venue.

the night before we had pretty sweet tickets to see louis CK.
oh yeah and andy dick stopped by, bought some shirts and asked to get a pic….seriously.

this past week was one big WTF in the most fun and weird way i can remember.

still confused and laughing about it.

danrugh

We recently returned from our annual pilgrimage to Gainesville, Fl for THE FEST.  Now you may not be a punk rock fan, or have ever heard of Hot Water Music or Dillinger 4, but I can say without a nanosecond of hesitation if you have heard of those bands, and you aren’t going to the fest, you are doing it wrong. This has to be one of the greatest weekends of the year, and in year 10 its only getting better!  2011 marks the second year of Commonwealth Press being a main sponsor.  It’s an incredible honor to be able to be a part of something so amazing, and it doesn’t hurt that you get to see people wearing shirts we printed all weekend.

For those that have never been but are considering going, I’ll give you a summary of what your weekend in sunny Florida may include.  This year we left the RV behind and decided to fly down, so bright and early Friday morning my friends start showing up at my house for early morning beers before our flight.  The party continued at the airport bar, and certainly didn’t stop when we got on the plane.   After a short flight to Orlando, and a minivan jaunt to Gainesville, we are at THE FEST ready to party.

We rush to registration, get our wristbands and are immediately off to see Small Brown Bike. This is where your jealousy should kick in… on Friday night we saw: Small Brown Bike, Dead To Me, Samiam, Tigers Jaw, KID DYNAMITE!, our local friends Run Forever, The Holy Mess, The Great Explainer, Touche Amore, Bouncing Souls, Sleepytime Trio, No Trigger, Make Do and Mend, Polar Bear Club, and HOT WATER MUSIC!  All in one night! There were 2 more nights like this left, and that list doesn’t even include the bands I wish I had seen, but had to miss due to schedule conflicts. After 1 million beers and as many bands we returned to almighty Jim Devine’s house who was rad enough to put up a bunch of smelly kids for the weekend.

Saturday we awoke sore and ready to do it all again. A great thing about the fest, in addition to the bands, is all the incredible restaurants that are ready to cure a hangover with a bloody mary and some gator burritos, or oxtail, or some other incredible local delicacy.  Boca Fiesta, a mexican joint owned by ex-Against Me! drummer, is not too be missed while in Gainesville, as is the Reggae Shack, Gator Dawgs, or Bagels and Noodles. After filling our bellies we were off to see some more incredible bands and get in some good hangs with friends I wish I got to see more often.  Highlights of Saturday included: an acoustic Menzingers show to a room with more people in it than the fire code may have liked, Armalite, Such Gold, Reverse The Curse, Iron Chic, None More Black, Paint It Black, and Red City Radio just to name a few.

Sundays in Gainesville mean No Idea Records flea market and cookout. It’s a great place to find rare records and score a test pressing or 2.  I saw a kid pick up two Hot Water Music test pressings for $200, wow! After that we of course had to watch the Steeler game, we are Pittsburghers after all, and we found an incredible Steelers bar.  It was like being in Pittsburgh, Steeler jerseys everywhere, people drinking Iron City, it was incredible.  It also happened to work out perfectly that our friends in Captain, We’re Sinking played exactly at halftime.  What a halftime show!  After an epic Steelers victory we made our way to see the Upright Citizens Brigade touring troupe.  This was the first year the fest tried comedy, and I have to say I approve!  It was great and a welcome break from all the bands.

After the party that is THE FEST comes to an end on Sunday night and you wake up on Monday realizing you need to get back to your real life, it’s a difficult realization, but knowing that the next fest is only 362 days away, and probably already being planned gives me enough of a bright spot on the horizon to be back at the shop on Tuesday.  If that doesn’t sound like fun to you, you should either check your pulse or stop taking life so seriously, cause it’s awesome!  SEE YOU NEXT YEAR GAINESVILLE!

-Dan Rock

photos from Nicole Kibert / www.elawgrrl.com

welcome to our brand new website.
we hope you love it. if not tell us why and we will alter it to your lovabilty.

theres some parts that arent totally finished yet…but knowing us, what did you expect.

this is however one of the many first steps in what we are hoping is a long line of “shining things up” around here. theres a ton of announcements coming so PLEASE stop back and PLEASE sign up for our mailing list (its that little box to the bottom left there). we are going to be running specials from time to time on a mailing list basis only…so get in on that asap.

as far as the here and now, please enjoy our current special of 12 free shirts added to your order of 50 or more shirts.
the only catch is that this only applies to orders placed on or after 7/11 – you must mention this ad AND your order must be placed in full by july 22 2011…and only covers standard basic brands of shirts – we cant afford to be giving away all those fancy fashion fit ones.
(check out our apparel options for more info)

get that art together, get it over, sell some shirts, come back for more and start your clothing empire – or support your tour – or advertise your business. whatever you want to do is what we want to help you get done.

thank you so much for your years of support. we are doing our best to assure that this is only the beginning.

growing slowly stronger, not bigger…sincerely,
CWP (all 6 of us)

so im in there messing around with the backend of our new site and i accidentally made it live. sure, i couldve fixed it – but i know myself.
this thing would never go live if i kept playing around with it.

ill take it as a sign.  so heck with it, here we are!

its live.

if you see anything thats not working right, dont sweat it. its all getting tweaked as you read this. if you cant find something  you need, contact us and let us know what you want and we will do our best to get you what you need.

so yes, the new site is here…and yet still en route.

wouldnt be us if it was easy. hope you enjoy this and all the whatnot that is coming.

with much love

all of us at commonwealth press

we teamed up with our pals over at the pgh based art blog steeltown anthem to pull together a wonderful evening going over the basics of screen printing.

we pulled in art from some locals (including Strawberryluna, Mike Budai, Matt Gondek, Dan Minsky, Sapling Press and cwp). ill have the art exposed and the screens ready to roll…once everyone shows up ill give a base level intro to screen printing and how to make a print… and then we can all cut loose. paper will be supplied and you can make some one of a kind prints, hang out, ask questions and pretty much just have a good and hopefully informative time.

:.DJ Llamo.: will be there playing good music while we print!

registration and all of that info is being taken care of via steeltown anthem, so hit up their site for the deets!

FROM STEELTOWN ANTHEMS BLOG:

Information:
2315 Wharton Street on the South Side
Thursday, July 14th from 6pm – 9pm
Space is limited to 25 people only

+ $20 per person (space is limited to 25 people)
+ Pick whichever artwork you want to print
+ You can pull up to 3 prints and anything in addition is just a $1 a piece!

$20 Admission Fee to reserve your space! Sorry, SOLD OUT!
(dont worry, this is just the beginning)

we got a new warehouse! its one of the biggest  things that has ever happened to us (literally). we definitely needed the space and it certainly needed some love – and got tons of it. my dad (the mighty max rugh) spent hours fine tuning this space into something that we are all very proud of. we have HUGE HUGE plans for this space. from art shows and public events to rental space, classes and tons of other print related gatherings.

i honestly cant say how proud i am of what we have been upto – and i know its 100% based on the support you have offered us over the past few years. we are planning a big grand opening – so please get ready to come and enjoy something that we have all accomplished together. i couldnt be happier and it couldnt have happened in a better way.

respectfully!
all of us at cwp.

photo: Brett Wiewiora

here is the song and some video of the process

Screenprinting Dean and Britta from commonwealth press on Vimeo.

we are doing this without halting production (so as you can imagine its a pretty absurd cluster fudge). regardless, the big hold up was getting cement poured in our new basement, which has been done… so its pretty much ready to rip. the slow trudge has begun, slating the presses to be moved next week sometime.
prepare for some bitching.

Fri July 27th at around 9pm we are planning a party at RUGGERS PUB (south side – 22nd and wharton) to release some of our new designs, merchandise, and a few other whatevers. Lets be honest though, we are doing it so we can all get together and tear things up a little bit.

CommonWealth Press – Let’sParty party

commonwealth press | Myspace Video

Please plan to show up, among the free give aways, free drinks, and all the other things we have planned….we are really looking to meet some new folks, put faces to names, and blow off some steam in general.
details coming.

so with much pride id like to introduce our daughter amelia, the youngest screen printer in pittsburgh.